Bidfood toasts Christmas’ hosts with festive feast

Bidfood has made the holiday season that little bit merrier by rewarding the industry’s unsung heroes through its Christmas Gift campaign.

With longer hours and busier service periods, it’s understandable that those in hospitality have a very different festive experience to those they are serving. With this in mind, Bidfood launched a campaign to find and recognise those who work on Christmas or Boxing Day and who go the extra mile to make the season special for others.

From more than 100 nominations, a panel of leading industry influencers including Andy Kemp, Bidfood’s Group Sales & Marketing Director; Anne Pierce, Chief Executive at Springboard; Peter Hancock, Chief Executive at Pride of Britain Hotels; and Andy Jones, Chair of the Public Sector 100 Group, selected eight winners across six industry sectors.

Each winner will be treated to a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for them to enjoy with family and friends, as well as a Virgin Experience Day voucher worth £150.

Andrew Selley, CEO of Bidfood says: “We know that around 92,000 chefs, kitchen assistants, waiting and bar staff work in hotels, pubs and restaurants on Christmas day[1], and many more across the whole foodservice industry will give up time with their friends and family. From care homes to restaurants, the kitchen and serving teams are all too often the unsung heroes at this time of year and we wanted to thank them for their efforts by gifting them back a dinner for them to enjoy with loved ones.

Almost 14 million Brits intend to visit the pub during the festive period, making it the most popular place outside of the home to spend Christmas (Eat Out, 2017).

Recruitment in the hospitality industry is up 47% up on average during November and December (The Change Group, 2016).

Hospitality staff will work an average of 28 hours’ overtime over Christmas. In the equivalent time behind the bar or in the kitchen, a member of staff could pour 840 pints of Guinness or cook 168 steaks (Big Hospitality, 2016).